Featuring

Featuring

Listen to the Audio Promo!

SAVE THE DATE for a COLOSSAL CSICon 2018

Bigger venue. Bigger stars. Bigger ideas. Bigger fun.

Las Vegas, October 18 – 21, 2018

CSICon is already one of the planet’s premier skeptics conferences, where hundreds of critical thinkers come to Las Vegas, the city of illusions, to hear from the leading lights of science and skepticism. For 2018, we want CSICon to be bigger than ever.

Note: Our room block is now full for the Westgate Hotel, as is our overflow room block at Harrah’s. We understand that you may be able to book rooms at either The Westgate or Harrah’s, however our special conference rate will no longer be in effect. The “Book Now” button will take you to the reservation window for Harrah’s.

Come to Las Vegas October 18-21 at the Westgate Resort and Casino to see:

The brilliant and hilarious Stephen Fry on stage with Richard Dawkins

A special Sunday morning conversation featuring James The Amazing Randi with Massimo Polidoro

A talk by Steven Pinker on the ideas behind his new book Enlightenment Now

PLUS:New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer, psychologist and memetics expert Susan Blackmore, the “SciBabe” Yvette d’Entremont, virologist and advocate for science-based medicine Paul Offit, and many more, along with comic-musician George Hrab serving as master of ceremonies, a magic show from Banachek, author book signings, and, of course, a Halloween Costume Party.

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter, film director and all round national treasure.
Stephen’s new book, Mythos, his unique retelling of the Greek myths, was published in November 2017 and he is currently working on a one man stage show of the book for a first run at the Shaw Festival in Niagara.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 12:30 PMSaturday - October 20th at 4:10 PM

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is one of the most respected scientists in the world and an internationally best-selling author. Among his books are The Selfish Gene, The God Delusion, and his autobiography A Brief Candle in the Dark. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 12:30 PMSaturday - October 20th at 4:10 PM

Kavin Senapathy

Kavin is an author and public speaker covering science, health, medicine, agriculture, food, parenting and their intersection. Her work appears regularly at Forbes, SELF Magazine, Slate, and more. Her chapter in the recent MIT Press book “Pseudoscience” is entitled “Swaying Pseudoscience - The Inoculation Effect.” When she’s not writing and tweeting, she’s busy being a “Science Mom”—also the name of a recent documentary film in which she’s featured—to a 7-year-old and 5-year-old.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 11:30 AM

Steven Pinker

Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, is an experimental cognitive scientist and one of the world’s foremost writers on language, mind, and human nature. He has received numerous prizes for his books The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and The Sense of Style. He is an elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been named Humanist of the Year, Prospect magazine’s “The World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals,” Foreign Policy’s “100 Global Thinkers,” and Time magazine’s “The 100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” He is a longtime Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 2:30 PMFriday - October 19th at 3:30 PM

Yvette d'Entremont

Yvette d'Entremont was working as an analytical chemist when she launched SciBabe as a side project. What started as a hobby for passion and fun turned into a full time job after a few viral successes. With an academic background in forensics and toxicology, a sharp BS detector, and a big dose of humor, she's taken her brand of science communication to make science more relatable and accessible in a social media landscape of misinformation. Her first book is SciBabe's Ten Rules To BS Detection.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 9:00 AM

James Randi

James “The Amazing” Randi began his career as a stage magician and escape artist but achieved fame as a professional skeptic, publicly disproving the claims of self-described psychics, mentalists, and faith healers. He is one of the founders of CSICOP—now CSI—and the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).

Presenting

Sunday – October 21st at 9:00 AMSaturday - October 20th at 12:30 PM

Massimo Polidoro

Massimo Polidoro is a writer and an internationally recognized “mystery detective.” He began his career as James Randi’s apprentice and is the cofounder and head of the Italian skeptics group CICAP. He is a TV personality in Italy, a research fellow for CSI, and a longtime columnist for its magazine, the Skeptical Inquirer. He is starting a new series, “Stranger Stories”, on his YouTube channel.

Presenting

Sunday – October 21st at 9:00 AMSaturday - October 20th at 2:30 PM

Adam Conover

Adam Conover is the creator and host of Adam Ruins Everything, an informational comedy show that debunks common misconceptions and encourages critical thinking. As a standup comedian, he performs at colleges and theaters across the country.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 8:00 PM

James Alcock

James Alcock is professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada. He is a fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a member of the Editorial Board of the Skeptical Inquirer.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 9:00 AM

Banachek

Banachek is respected as the greatest Mentalist/Mindreader in the world. It is very hard to find a single mentalist or magician living today that is not using one of Banachek's effects or applying one of his subtleties. He has put more magic on Television than any other magician in history. He is the first magician to successfully perform the buried alive escape which broadcast live on syndicated television. Banachek has performed on over 225 TV shows and over 300 Radio programs. He has been recognized and awarded as the number one college entertainer multiple times, as well as an award winning corporate and trade show performer. He has received the Lederman Creativity Award, Dunninger Award, Dan Blackwood Award, SAM Milbourne Christopher Award, IMS Mentalist Award and awarded the converted Entertainers award in the college market two years in a row beating out magicians, bands, comedians and all other types of entertainment. In short, his achievements are impressive.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 8:15 PM

Kenny Biddle

Kenny Biddleis a science enthusiast and skeptical investigator of paranormal claims. He’s been involved in photography for over twenty years. He applies his knowledge, experience, and critical thinking skills to analyzing alleged paranormal photographs and video to determine the most plausible causes. His work has been featured in several skeptical publications.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 12:30 PM

Mark Boslough

Mark Boslough is a Caltech-trained physicist and CSI Fellow who spent 34 years at Sandia National Laboratories doing research on hypervelocity impacts, energetic materials, explosions, and global risk from asteroid impacts and climate change. He has participated in many science documentaries with field expeditions to airburst locations including the Libyan Desert of Egypt in 2006, Tunguska in 2008, Chelyabinsk in 2013, and the Nevada Test Site in 2017. He is now an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico, where his asteroid research is focused on computational modeling of airbursts, their physical effects, and their contribution to the global hazard. Asteroid 73520 Boslough (2003 MB1) is named after him.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 11:00 AM

Tim Callahan

Though trained as an artist and working for over 20 years in the animation industry, Tim Callahan has always had a love of science, particularly those sciences involved with evolution. In the 1990s he became embroiled with a creationist in a duel of editorial letters in the Pasadena Star-News. He then became curious about fundamentalism and started monitoring the local fundamentalist radio station, KKLA and began calling in to one of the talk shows, “Live from L.A.” and arguing with a number of their guests, most notably, Hal Lindsey, author of The Late, Great Planet Earth. He then wrote an article about Lindsey’s theories, which he sent in to and was published by Skeptic Magazine.
Subsequently, the editors of Skeptic asked him to write a book on fundamentalist end-time prognostication. This was Bible Prophecy: Failure or Fulfillment? (Millennium Press 1997). He then wrote Secret Origins of the Bible, also for Millennium Press (2002). In addition, he became the religion editor for Skeptic and has written numerous article and book reviews in that capacity. He also wrote two articles for The Humanist on the so-called “wise use” movement.
Dr. Donald Prothero asked Callahan to co-author a book he proposed writing on UFOs. The proposal was accepted by the Indiana University Press. The result of this collaboration was UFOs, Chemtrails and Aliens.

Troy Campbell

Troy Campbell is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Oregon, a design psychologist, and a former Disney Imagineer. He develops psychological theories to design better ways to overcome bias, create great experiences, improve well-being, and communicate ideas, stories, and science.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 11:30 AM

Timothy Caulfield

Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health, and Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta. His interdisciplinary research on topics like stem cells, genetics, research ethics, the public representations of science and health policy issues has allowed him to publish over 350 academic articles. He has won numerous academic and writing awards and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Trudeau Foundation and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He contributes frequently for the popular press and is the author of two national bestsellers: The Cure for Everything: Untangling the Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness and Happiness (Penguin 2012) and Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash (Penguin 2015). Caulfield is also the host and co-producer of the documentary TV show, A User’s Guide to Cheating Death.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 9:30 AM

John Cook

John Cook is a research assistant professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. His research focus is understanding and countering misinformation about climate change. In 2007, he founded Skeptical Science, a website which won the 2011 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for the Advancement of Climate Change Knowledge and 2016 Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education. John co-authored the college textbooks Climate Change: Examining the Facts and Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis and the book Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand. In 2013, he published a paper finding 97% scientific consensus on human-caused global warming, a finding that has been highlighted by President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 2:00 PM

Edward Tabash

Edward Tabash is a constitutional lawyer in the Los Angeles area and chair of the board of directors of the Center for Inquiry. He is recognized for his legal expertise pertaining to the separation of church and state. He is also one of the more well-known atheist debaters in the United States.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 7:00 PM

Craig Foster

Craig Foster received his PhD in social psychology from the University of North Carolina. He currently serves as a psychology professor at the United States Air Force Academy. His research interests include scientific reasoning and the development of pseudoscientific beliefs.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 12:00 PM

Susan Gerbic

Affectionately called the Wikipediatrician, Susan Gerbic is the cofounder of Monterey County Skeptics and a self-proclaimed skeptical junkie. Susan is also founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project. She is a frequent contributor to Skeptical Inquirer (CSICOP) and Skepticality Podcast. She is the winner of the CSI In the Trenches Award from 2012, James Randi Award for Skepticism in the Public Interest 2013. She became a Scientific and Technical Consultant for CSI in 2015 and a CSI Fellow in 2017. Susan was awarded the James Randi Prize for 2017. In 2018, Susan founded and manages About Time a non-profit organization focusing on scientific skepticism and activism.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 11:00 AM

Jen Gunter

Dr. Jen Gunter is an OB/GYN and pain medicine physician and is Twitter's resident gynecologist. She's here to build a better medical Internet. She blogs and also writes The Cycle, a column on the intersection sex, science, and society, for the New York Times. One day she hopes to ask Gwyneth Paltrow for the physics equation that explains how a jade egg can be recharged with lunar energy.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 11:00 AM

Abby Hafer

Abby Hafer is an author, scientist, educator and public speaker. Her book, The Not-So-Intelligent Designer—Why Evolution Explains the Human Body and Intelligent Design Does Not debunks Intelligent Design. Her scientific career includes a doctorate in zoology from Oxford University and teaching human anatomy and physiology at Curry College. She has recently broadened her scope to include crushing the gender binary using biology, and giving the same treatment to morality based on the supernatural.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 12:00 PM

Ray Hall

Raymond Edward Hall is a professor in the Department of Physics at California State University, Fresno, where for more than fifteen years he has developed and taught courses in engineering physics, quantum mechanics, and other scientific topics.

Presenting

Sunday – October 21st at 10:00 AM

George Hrab

George Hrab is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, composer, and heliocentrist. He has written and produced six independent CDs and a concert DVD; published two books; and recorded hundreds of episodes of an award-winning podcast.

Deborah Hyde

Deborah Hyde has been writing about the malign supernatural for fifteen years. Her website, ‘Jourdemayne’ covers subjects from contemporary belief in witchcraft in Africa, to vampires, exorcism and more. She is currently writing a book ‘Unnatural Predators’ about malign folkore and why it is so persistent throughout all human communities & history.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 2:00 PM

Joe Nickell

Joe Nickell is senior research fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). He is the author of more than twenty investigative books, including Detecting Forgery, Camera Clues, Unsolved History, Real-Life X-Files, Crime Science, and Secrets of the Sideshows.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 2:00 PM

Kendrick Frazier

Kendrick Frazier is editor of the Skeptical Inquirer and a fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is also on the board of the Center for Inquiry. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is author or editor of ten books.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 7:00 PM

William M. London

William M. London is a professor of public health at Cal State LA, the editor of Quackwatch's Consumer Health Digest electronic newsletter, Consumer Health online columnist for Skeptical Inquirer, and a Committee for Skeptical Inquiry consultant. He has baccalaureate degrees in biological science and geography, master's degrees in health education and educational psychology, and a doctorate in health education, all from the University at Buffalo (SUNY). He also has a master of public health degree from Loma Linda University and has completed all coursework toward a Master of Science in Clinical Research degree from Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 2:00 PM

Stephen Macknik

Stephen Macknik is a neuroscientist and Professor at the State University of New York. He is best known for his studies on illusions, consciousness, attentional misdirection in stage magic, and cerebral blood flow. Steve and Susana write the “Illusion Chasers” blog for the Scientific American blog network and work with international science museums, foundations, and nonprofit organizations to promote neuroscience education and communication. Steve and Susana’s research has been featured in print in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, The LA Chronicle, The Times (London), The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Der Spiegel, etc., and in radio and TV shows, including Discovery Channel's Head Games and Daily Planet shows, NOVA: ScienceNow, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR's Science Friday, and PRI's The World. Stephen Macknik authored the international bestseller “Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About our Everyday Deceptions” (2010) and “Champions of Illusion” (2017) with Susana Martinez-Conde.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 4:00 PM

Susana Martinez-Conde

Susana Martinez-Conde is a neuroscientist and Professor at the State University of New York. She is best known for her studies on illusions, eye movements and perception, neurological disorders, and attentional misdirection in stage magic. Susana complements her award-winning research with extensive science communication, education, and public outreach. She presides over the Neural Correlate Society, which hosts the annual “Best Illusion of the Year Contest”, now in its 13th edition, and writes frequently for Scientific American. Among her distinctions are the “Eyetrack Award” for her research on Parkinsonian patients, and the “100 Spaniards” Prize.” She is the 2014 recipient of the Science Educator Award, given by the international Society for Neuroscience (40,000 members) to an outstanding neuroscientist who has made significant contributions to educating the public. Her latest book, “Champions of Illusion,” was published in 2017 by Scientific American/Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 4:00 PM

Mick West

Mick West is a writer, investigator, and debunker who enjoys looking into the evidence behind conspiracy theories and strange phenomena and then explaining what is actually going on. He runs the Metabunk forum and is the author of the book "Escaping the Rabbit Hole".

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 9:30 AM

Paul Offit

Paul A. Offit, MD is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of many awards including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics from the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America, and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Offit has published more than 160 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC. He is also the author of eight medical narratives: The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to Today’s Growing Vaccine Crisis, Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases, Autism’s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure, Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine, Bad Faith: When Religious Belief Undermines Modern Medicine, Pandora’s Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong, and Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information.

Presenting

Friday - October 19th at 12:30 PM

Massimo Pigliucci

Prof. Pigliucci has a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He currently is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of biology, the relationship between science and philosophy, the nature of pseudoscience, and the practical philosophy of Stoicism.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 10:00 AM

Robyn Blumner

Robyn Blumner joined the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science as executive director in February 2014, and a year later she was promoted to president and chief executive officer. In January 2016 she became CEO of the Center for Inquiry.

Presenting

Thursday - October 18th at 7:00 PM

Joseph Uscinski

Joseph Uscinski is associate professor of political science at University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. He is co-author of American Conspiracy Theories (Oxford, 2014) and numerous peer-reviewed articles on conspiratorial beliefs. He completed his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Arizona.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 11:00 AM

Bertha Vazquez

TIES Director Bertha Vazquez has been teaching middle school science in Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 27 years. A seasoned traveler who has visited all seven continents, she enjoys introducing the world of nature and science to young, eager minds. An educator with National Board Certification, she is the recipient of several national and local honors, including the 2014 Samsung’s $150,000 Solve For Tomorrow Contest and the $5,000 Charles C. Bartlett National Excellence in Environmental Award in 2009. She was Miami-Dade Science Teacher of the Year in 1997, 2008, and 2017 and is currently one of Florida’s 2017 finalists for The Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Thanks to the success of TIES, Bertha was the recipient of the 2017 winner of the National Association of Biology Teachers Evolution Education Award.

Presenting

Saturday - October 20th at 3:00 PM

Carl Zimmer

Carl Zimmer is an award-winning science writer. He writes the weekly "Matter" column for the New York Times, and his latest book is She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity (Dutton, May 2018).

Workshop 1A: Climate Literacy Toolkit

I attended my first CSICon in 2016 and sat in on the Mini-Skeptics Toolbox, which inspired me to develop an 8-week Climate Literacy Toolkit (smaller than a Toolbox) course for graduate students in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico in the Fall semester of 2017. The purpose was to provide a basic understanding of the scientific consensus on climate change and the tools to recognize the difference between scientific and non-scientific criticisms. Students learned the skills to communicate climate science to ordinary non-technical people in social environments and participated in a role-playing exercise in which they practiced communicating to others pretending to be members of one of Global Warming’s “Six Americas” (defined by the Yale Program on Climate Communication). We will replicate this role-playing game at CSICon with participants who have read the original Yale Report in advance: tinyurl.com/Yale6USAs

Presented by

Mark Boslough

Physicist, Asteroid Researcher

Workshop 1B: Skeptical Activism

The mission of the GSoW is to rewrite all Wikipedia pages concerning scientific skepticism, and to do so in all languages possible. They work to support the people and organizations that do the research, write the books, organize the conferences and take the heat from the anti-science and paranormal world. GSoW gives them the best possible Wikipedia pages possible, while following all the rules of Wikipedia. The GSoW has had a large impact on education around the world since 2010. The GSoW has written and rewritten hundreds of Wikipedia pages, including Spontaneous Human Combustion, Facilitated Communication, Perry DeAngelis, Genetic Literacy Project, Jerry Andrus, “Grandmother Fish” and many more.

Also, Susan will be talking about her work with Grief Vampires, what works, what is the goal, how to know when you have been successful, how to run a sting. The actions you will be learning from her experiences with psychics will teach you how to use those same resources with other kinds of pseudoscience, including facilitated communication which she calls the low-hanging fruit of woo. Susan has multiple ongoing stings and projects that she will be reporting on in this workshop, inspiring you to do join or giving you tips for your own skeptical activism.

Presented by

Susan Gerbic

Skeptical Junkie, Wikipedia Activist

Workshop 2A: The Investigators

Investigating paranormal claims is not as easy as reality television shows make it out to be. It takes a considerable amount of work examining all the details, tracking down leads and interviewing witnesses. Join investigators Joe Nickell and Kenny Biddle as they take you on a tour; first through their philosophy on why we investigate claims of ghosts, UFOs, and monsters, as well as the people that believe in them.

Second, we’ll explore the investigative strategies used to solve mysteries, combining traditional and modern research techniques, with some “out-of-the-box” thinking that comes from years of experience.

Presented by

Joe Nickell

Paranormal Investigator, Author

Kenny Biddle

Science Enthusiast, Paranormal Photography Investigator

Workshop 2B: Numerical Hygiene

Our beliefs about alleged health threats, alleged health enhancement strategies, and population health trends can be influenced by people who point to statistics, tables, and graphs. This workshop explores: (1) the vulnerability of intelligent consumers to being misled by arguments involving numbers and (2) the importance of quantitative reasoning skills for distinguishing health fact from health fiction. The emphasis will be on small-group problem solving tasks that have both puzzled and enlightened college students. To complete the problem solving tasks, you don’t need to be a math whiz and you don’t need formal training in statistics, but you will need some healthy skepticism.

Presented by

William M. London

Professor of Public Health at Cal State LA, Writer

Adam Ruins Skepticism: On the Virtues of Not Knowing

Skepticism as an ethos is based around the questioning of putative knowledge and claims. But too often, those of us who identify as skeptics are too quick to presume we are the true rationalists, in possession of objective ways of thinking and special knowledge of how the world works. The truth is that this is a supremely arrogant thing for a limited, contingent hunk of meat like a human brain to think. No single person’s perspective could really have immediate access to all there is to know, and to think otherwise is to close yourself off to the possibility of deeper and broader knowledge of the world. In this talk, I will discuss how I’ve found that when I resist the arrogant impulse, and instead admit that I do not know, that is when I learn and grow, as a mind. I will go on to discuss how my views on topics as varied as placebos and religion have evolved as a result of this perspective.

Show Premise

In this original hybrid of stand-up comedy and multidisciplinary lecture, Adam Conover will reveal the cultural parasites that seek to control your mind and behavior, and explains how you can protect yourself from their influence and achieve intellectual freedom.

The Challenge of Belief: Fact, Folly or Propaganda

Never in history has so much information been instantly available to so many with so little effort. Anyone with a smart phone and an Internet connection can in a moment access vast amounts of data on just about any subject. However, although it may significantly influence our beliefs, most of this information is unfiltered and has never being subjected to the fact-checking scrutiny provided in the past by journalists, editors and peer review. This makes it difficult to distinguish between fact, conjecture, propaganda and nonsense. Recent psychological research can inform us about the impact of “alternative facts” and “fake news” on our beliefs and offer guidance when deceit and folly masquerade as truth on a massive scale.

Presented by

James Alcock

Professor of Psychology at York University, Toronto

Debunking 9/11 Microsphere Myths

Millions of people believe that the World Trade Center was demolished with explosives as part of a vast government conspiracy. One of the core pieces of evidence for this belief is the presence of millions of microscopic iron spheres in the WTC dust. It is falsely claimed these microspheres could only have come from the use of explosives, and so their presence proves controlled demolition. Why does this false belief persist after being debunked over a decade ago?

I explain the misconceptions about iron microspheres that keep the belief alive, and how to discuss these misconceptions with 9/11 conspiracy theorists. I’ll show where the WTC microspheres probably came from. There will be a live demonstration of one method of making iron microspheres using materials from the hotel gift shop, along with quick descriptions of ten other methods the fire marshal won’t let me show.

Presented by

Mick West

Mick West is a writer, investigator, and debunker.

She has her Mother’s Laugh: the Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity

In this talk, New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer explores the history of heredity, a concept that has come to define us and yet defies our intuitions. Today, millions of people are getting their DNA sequenced to understand how their ancestry made them who they are, but making sense of these tests demands that we escape mistaken views about how we inherit genes and what effects they have on us. Zimmer calls for a broader view of heredity, one that can potentially include other channels flowing from one generation to the next.

Presented by

Carl Zimmer

Science Writer

Vaginal Snake Oil Profiteers, from Paltrow to the Patriarchy

It is 2018 and yet many people (both women and men) don’t know that IUDs are not abortifacients, eating sugar doesn’t cause a yeast infection, and all vaginas are not one wet bathing suit away from full catastrophe. We are here for many reasons including our collective inability to talk frankly and openly about the reproductive tract, the shame patriarchy assigns to a female body, and because celebrities, politicians, and corporate America know vaginal snake oil is better than striking gold. As far as reproductive health for women is concerned the age of information has passed and we have entered the age of misinformation. Dr. Jen Gunter, the Internet’s go to gynecologist, explains how all parts of the political spectrum profit from vaginal misinformation, what we can all do about it and why it matters.

Presented by

Jen Gunter

Professional OBGYN on Twitter

Battling Bias in Scientific Communication

This talk will explore the underlying forces that drive biases around science and how to fight against them. In the first half, the session with explore some overlooked biases like solution aversion, inferred extremity, flight from facts, and lying as signal. It will also comment on how an education system that thinks it is scientific often encourage these biases and general anti-scientific thinking . In the second half, the session will explore communication and change tactics such as modeling, change narratives, perspective communication, and incremental approaches,. Complete with personal stories about ex girl-friends and becoming a better more scientific person for petty reasons, former Disney Imagineer turned social scientist Professor Campbell offers a realistic but hopeful perspective. It will cover the science of why we deny science and the less talked about science of how we can lead people to appreciate and act on science.

Presented by

Troy Campbell

Design Psychologist, Former Disney Imagineer

We’re only human: Social versus personality explanations for believing in Bigfoot

Does pseudoscience appeal to a certain kind of person, or do social contexts draw regular people into pseudoscience? We examined this issue by conducting survey research at the Texas Bigfoot Conference. The obtained results supported the social perspective. Exposure to pro-Bigfoot arguments and interpreting information in a confirmatory manner likely work together to create certainty that Bigfoot exists. These results suggest that folk theories about pseudoscience supporters being unintelligent or irrational are often unfair and misguided. On the contrary, susceptibility to believing in pseudoscience is a human problem. Humans, therefore, should recognize and take measures to overcome this blind spot that accompanies human nature.

Presented by

Craig Foster

Paul Offit discusses his experiences with mainstream media outlets like morning and evening national news programs, the Colbert Report, the Daily Show and others and describes lessons learned (usually the hard way).

Presented by

Paul Offit

Vaccine Scientist, Author

Interview with a Vampire Expert

The Vampire has fascinated Western Europe from the early 1700s, but the tradition was a real part of Eastern European lives for a considerable time before that. The archetype has been taken up by art of all kinds, but what is the authentic history behind the tales of the predatory, living dead?

We will look at recent attempts to understand the folklore and try to work out how an Eastern European ritual made its way to late nineteenth century New England.

Presented by

Deborah Hyde

Supernatural Researcher

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

If you follow the headlines, the world in the 21st century appears to be sinking into chaos, hatred, and irrationality. But this is an illusion: a symptom of historical amnesia and statistical fallacies. If you follow the trend lines, you discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer, richer, happier, and more peaceful—not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is no accident. It’s the gift of a set of ideas that many of us embrace without even realizing it. These are the ideals of the Enlightenment: reason, science, and humanism. They impel us to use our faculties of reason and sympathy to solve the problems that inevitably come with being products of evolution in an indifferent universe.

The challenges we face today are formidable, including climate change and nuclear weapons. But the way to deal with them is not to moan that we’re doomed or to lurch back to a mythical age of greatness. It’s to treat them as problems to solve, as we have solved other problems in the past. We will never have a perfect world, but—defying the chorus of fatalism and reaction—we can continue to make a better world.

Presented by

Steven Pinker

Champions of Illusion

Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik have studied the neuroscience of sensory and cognitive illusions in their laboratories for almost two decades, and promoted them to general audiences as an exciting and spectacular tool to confront our wider misperceptions and sharpen our critical thinking skills in our so called ‘post-truth’ era.

In Champions of Illusion, Profs. Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik present a smorgasbord of mystifying images, many selected from their Best Illusion of the Year Contest. Whether it’s false motion, tricks of perspective, or shifting colors, Champions of Illusion is packed with adventures in visual perception. If you have ever found yourself face-to-face with an utterly bewildering illusion, you know the powerful effect such images have on the mind. The question we often ask ourselves is, How is that possible? Martinez-Conde and Macknik, who study the intersection of neuroscience, illusions, and stage magic, explain just why we think we see the things we see.

The Best Illusion of the Year Contest draws entries from vision scientists, artists, magicians, and mathematicians bent on creating today’s most beguiling illusions. Featuring the contest’s most bizarre effects and unbelievable mind tricks, along with classic illusions and illuminating descriptions of what is actually going on in your brain when you are deceived by visuals on the page, Champions of Illusion is an electrifying mix of science and magic that you will not soon forget.

SciBabe’s Guide to Surviving Fake News

Can you spot fake news when it pops up in your Twitter feed? Are you sure? Can you spot a reputable source of information? Are you getting our news from biased sources? Even scientists and skeptics can have trouble separating landmark discoveries from hyperbolic writing or dry satire when they see it in popular media. Let Yvette d’Entremont (aka SciBabe) be your guide to spotting the hallmarks of reputable sources, biased reporting, and of course, fake news with a delivery that will keep you giggling. As a science journalist with a background in analytical chemistry and forensic science, she will help you seek out media sources that play to reality, not to your biases.

Presented by

Yvette d'Entremont

Society’s perceptions of beauty, health, success and happiness are framed by a popular culture that is increasingly disconnected from reality. The simple, evidence-based truths about what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle are often lost in the noise created by celebrities’ advice, the media’s twisted representations of science, and the marketing of bogus health products. Indeed, a growing body of research shows that popular culture has a profound influence people’s health decisions. What are the evidence-based strategies we can use to fight the pop culture bunk?

Presented by

Timothy Caulfield

Researcher, Professor, Author

The Variety of Scientisms & the Limits of Science

Science is by far the most powerful approach to the investigation of the natural world ever devised. Still, it has limits, and there are many areas and questions where the scientific approach is ill suited, or at best provides only pertinent information rather than full answers. The denial of this modest attitude about science is called scientism, which declares science to be the only form of human knowledge and understanding, attempting to subsume everything else, including all the humanistic disciplines, into “science” very broadly (mis-)construed. In this talk, I argue that this is a mistake, and that it moreover has the potential to undermine public trust in science itself.

Presented by

Massimo Pigliucci

Evolutionary Biologist, Researcher

Conspiracy Theories are for Losers

Americans have believed in conspiracy theories since before the United States united. A ceaseless array of conspiracy accusations have demonized witches, Freemasons, foreigners, red coats, black helicopters, Mormons, Muslims, Jews, fifth columns, the government, and more recently, Vladimir Putin. The common assumption is that conspiracy theories are nothing more than the delusions of paranoid minds trying to make sense of an ever more complicated world. However, the evidence tells a different story. In this talk, Professor Uscinski will show that conspiracy theories follow a strategic logic: they are tools used by the powerless to attack and defend against the powerful. Conspiracy theories must conform to this logic, or they will not be successful. In this way, conspiracy theories are for losers.

Presented by

Joseph Uscinski

Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Miami, Author

A Science Mom’s Path From Reason, to Oz, and Back Again

If skeptics are diametrically opposed to one thing, it’s woo. That’s why Kavin Senapathy took on her new Woo Watch column for Skeptical Inquirer, which explores the alternative health, clean food, and spurious parenting worlds, examines what drives these movements, and, of course, cites the evidence that condemns them. But even though she relishes wielding data and evidence, Senapathy fights woo not only because it’s wrong. What took this mommy blogger from buying Dr. Oz-endorsed supplements just a handful of years ago to her third time on the CSIcon stage? From being raised staunchly atheist by former Hindu immigrants from India to today, this Science Mom will explain why Woo Watch and CFI are part of her fight.

Presented by

Kavin Senapathy

Author, Public Speaker, Science Mom

Everything You Know About Sex is Wrong: Part 1–The Gender Binary

In this presentation I look at the evolution of sexual reproduction and some common misunderstandings about sex, including misconceptions about the gender binary. Using examples from the animal kingdom, I debunk many ideas about what is “natural” or “unnatural” regarding both sex and gender roles. Having debunked the religious “argument from nature”, I then go on to discuss the problems of a morality that is based on reference to the supernatural, including the idea of using holy books as an excuse for bad behavior.

Presented by

Abby Hafer

Zoologist, Author

Lunch – Positively Skeptical: The New Science of Out-of-Body Experiences

Out-of-body experiences were long ignored by science – likened to astral projection and
wandering souls – and the dramatic OBE I had in 1970 seemed inexplicable. Yet all that has
changed. From the discovery that stimulating the right temporoparietal junction can induce
OBEs to brain scans of people having out-of-body illusions in virtual reality, OBE research is
now contributing to our understanding of self, embodiment and consciousness. I’ll discuss the
kind of positive skepticism that does not just debunk or ignore strange claims but turns them
into useful science.

Presented by

Susan Blackmore

Psychologist, Lecturer, Writer

Taking On Fake News About Climate Change

There’s overwhelming scientific evidence and consensus that global warming is happening and humans are the cause. However, there’s also a deluge of misinformation designed to confuse the public and generate doubt about climate change. How should we respond to the firehose of falsehoods? One way to neutralize the influence of misinformation is through inoculation. This takes the idea of vaccination and applies it to knowledge—we can build immunity to misinformation by exposing people to a weak form of misinformation. In other words, by explaining the reasoning fallacies in denialist claims—exposing the techniques used to mislead. Not only does this approach neutralize the influence of science denial, it can turn misinformation into an educational opportunity and improve critical thinking. This talk will outline the research into countering misinformation and demonstrate the approach with visual examples.

Presented by

John Cook

Assistant Professor at the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University

The Mind of Leonardo Da Vinci

How did the greatest “genius” of all think? What went into his mind when he was faced with a problem, an enigma or a mystery? How can we use his habits and ways of reasoning to become better thinkers? Massimo Polidoro, who has a new biography on Leonardo coming out, will share the genius’ “thinking toolkit” to help us all improve our problem solving and inquiring techniques.

Presented by

Massimo Polidoro

Mystery Detective, Writer, Former James Randi Apprentice

Tying up Creationism in the Classroom

The Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) is a project of the Center for Inquiry. After decades of legal and legislative wins for evolution education, it is still difficult for many teachers to teach the unifying theme of biology without pushback from students and parents. As science standards across the country improve to include middle school standards on evolution, more and more teachers are teaching evolution for the first time and the battle to teach sound science moves into the individual classrooms themselves. The philosophy of TIES is that good teachers can teach anything as long as they have the content and resources to do so effectively. In just three and a half years, TIES has grown from a powerful idea shared by Richard Dawkins and Bertha Vazquez to a network of over fifty teachers who have presented over 100 professional development workshops in over 40 states.

Presented by

Bertha Vazquez

TIES Director, Middle School Science Teacher

Presentation of the Richard Dawkins Award to Stephen Fry

The Richard Dawkins Award is an annual award presented by the Atheist Alliance of America since 2003 to individuals it judges to have raised the public consciousness of atheism. Atheist Alliance president Mark W. Gura will introduce the award towards the end of the 4:00 pm session titled “Richard Dawkins and Stephen Fry in Conversation,” on Saturday, October 20th, as Dr. Richard Dawkins will present the award this year to English comedian, actor, and activist Stephen Fry.

Paper Sessions

The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 determines that access to Health services are “a right to everyone and a duty of the State”. A robust public health service has been built over the past decades, encompassing the democratic rights of the population to choose their preferred healthcare method. But diverse pressures, from practitioners and sectors of the public have led the government to invest in unproven drugs and “alternative” treatments, compromising the already limited health budget. We argue that the politicization of Science, populism, educational issues and the lack of proper Science communication are responsible for uninformed political decisions. Documenting and reporting on how Brazilian Healthcare and Judicial systems were taken over by pseudoscience, we hope to generate both international and local efforts to overcome not only the Brazilian problem, but also similar ones worldwide.

The Maharashtra Committee for Eradication of Superstition has fought social ills related to blind faith since its inception in 1983 and successfully agitated to demand a specific law to curb practices that were obviously demeaning and inhuman. This success came at a great cost as the founder, Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, who was assassinated, by a yet to be identified fanatic youth. This assassination saw a groundswell of support for Dr. Dabholkar’s ideas and the committee kept up the pressure through peaceful, Gandhian means of protests. The government finally gave in, and since the law’s enactment more than 250 cases have been filed and 3 people convicted.

10:40-10:55Patented Woo: Why does the Patent Office issue patents on homeopathic “cures” and other pseudoscience?

Rick Mc Leod, Esq., Attorney-at-law, @RicktheSkeptic

Patents are frequently used to bolster marginal or even incredible claims regarding pseudoscience. Using an actual patent application as an example, this presentation explains why having a U.S. Patent is a poor indicator of scientific credibility or value. Knowing how patents are evaluated and issued allows the skeptic to pierce one “argument from authority” that is typically unassailable by the layman (and sometimes, experts).

Adolescence is a fun topic because it opens the door to discussing sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. In addition to discussing our research on misperceptions about adolescence, this presentation will emphasize three primary messages: 1) teens “these days” get a bad rap, 2) many of the ways we try to help teens do NOT work, and 3) we do have some evidence-based approaches to helping teens make healthier choices. The presentation will conclude with an overview of our official attempt to break a Guinness World Record related to a myth of adolescence.

This presentation gives a personal perspective on working as a member of the international, multi-lingual Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) team, which strives to improve the science and skeptical content of the worlds’ number one information source. You will learn why GSoW is so important to the skeptical movement: because it is a highly successful form of outreach to the general public. It has reached tens of millions in just its first eight years. GSoW provides effective training and mentoring, transforming skeptics who were looking for a way to contribute to the movement into effective Wikipedia editors, and providing them with a way to make a real difference in the world.

11:40-11:55The Harrit Syndrome: A New Explanation of Why and How People Become Evangelical Conspiracy Theorists

The perception of conspiracy theories has changed in the past decade and a half, due to the increased interest from psychologists and sociologists. Believers are not mentally deviating from the general population or come from any distinct social, economic, educational, political, or ethnic outliers. Based on existing research, we believe we have identified the factor that turns people from ordinary citizens with vague ideas of conspiracy theories to evangelical conspiracy theorists. We have named this factor the Harrit Syndrome.

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Call for Papers

The Sunday Morning Papers session will recognize new voices and new ideas and showcase them in the spotlight of the CSICon stage. If you have had success in communicating scientific skepticism, teaching critical thinking, combating pseudoscience, or furthering the mission of CSI in some new and significant way, we want to hear from you! More Information & Submission Instructions ›

Volunteer Information

CSICon Las Vegas needs your help! We are seeking a number of volunteers to help support the event, whether with speaker support, registration, event management, PR, merchandising, outreach, tabling, or other opportunities. More Information & Sign-up Instructions ›

Sponsorship

Charter Members recieve special discounts now and in the future: Learn more ›

Flight Deals

Delta

CSICon attendees can receive a discount through the Delta Meeting program. Delta is offering a 2-10% discount depending on passenger departure city for travel to/from the conference. When booking, use the meeting code: NMRHS.

Or, call Delta Meeting reservations
800-328-1111Mon-Fri, 7am-7pm CDT

Southwest

Beginning on June 1st, 2018 Center For Inquiry conference attendees will receive a discount and bonus Rapid Reward points from Southwest Airlines through our SWABIZ® account. Southwest Airlines is offering an 8% discount off Anytime & Business Select® fares and a 2% discount off select Wanna Get Away® fares for travel to and from the conference. Book your travel between June 1st, 2018 and October 24th, 2018 to take advantage of the discounted rates. (Discounts are available for travel October 15th through October 24th, 2018.)

Use Company ID: 99205680

By flying Southwest Airlines, as a Center For Inquiry traveler, you will also receive the following benefits:

Hotel

Note: Reservations are currently full for the Westgate Hotel. We have overflow rooms at Harrahs just two stops away on the Las Vegas Monorail. Book your room now to enjoy the conference rate of $69-$149/night.

2018 is shaping up to be one of the biggest CSICons to date!

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Accessibility

The Center for Inquiry values full participation at all of its events, including participation from individuals with disabilities. Requests for reasonable accommodation may be made by contacting Barry Karr at (716) 636-4869 ext. 217 or bkarr@centerforinquiry.net.